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Oracle executive VP Keith Block, who has run North American sales at the enterprise software giant since 2002, is expected to be shown the door following the disclosure of some internal messages in which he harshly criticized current management, and in particular bad-mouthed the company's acquisition of Sun Microsystems.

UBS analyst Brent Thill told investors today that Block's departure from the company could be made official as early as Thursday, when the company reports earnings for the May quarter. In an interview, Thill notes that the company so far has neither confirmed nor denied that Block is leaving, but he adds that sales people at the company say he has already left.

Thill notes that the internal messages surfaced as part of the discovery process related to the company's litigation with Hewlett-Packard over Oracle's decision not to provide versions of its software for servers based on Itanium microprocessors.

In the messages, Thill says, Block bashed senior management, describing Sun as "dead, dead, dead," and asserting that among Oracle customers, nobody talks about Sun. He also had made harsh comments about Oracle co-president Mark Hurd.

JMP Securities analyst Patrick Walravens today asserted in a research note that Oracle could unveil a major reorg on Thursday, including the departure of Block.